It went in with a bang, and out with a tweet.

UBC Life, an online forum for UBC students launched earlier this week by an anonymous group, was taken offline a day after the university launched an investigation into the site.

“Sorry, #UBCLife is over,” read a post from the twitter account @ubclife shortly after the forum was abruptly taken down. “Happy to have made an impact. Time for UBC, [the Office of Learning Technology], and students to make this thing happen.”

The website, which went live Wednesday evening, immediately generated buzz, with hundreds of registered users and posts in just a few days.

However, not all of the attention was positive. Within hours, several students noted that an “Broadcast E-mail” from “UBC” they received was not actually from the university. Although the email came from an address unaffiliated with the university, it had the same subject line and signature that come on official UBC emails.

Jens Haeusser, Director of Strategy in the Office of the Vice Provost, IT, quickly confirmed that the university was not affiliated with the site. A wiki was also created by Justin Yang, editor of UBC Spectator, to monitor investigations into the site. Others noted that the creators of the site refused to reveal their identity, and questioned how the group obtained so many email addresses.

Yesterday, Scott Macrae, Executive Director of Public Affairs, said that the university was “definitely not behind [UBC Life],” and that there was an investigation had been launched involving Campus Security, IT, and University Counsel, the legal arm of UBC.

The only public clue to the identity of the people behind the site came on Wednesday evening, when a post entitled “About Us” appeared on the forum.

“UBC Life is a student-driven, university-supported initiative,” it stated, adding that in 2008, “three UBC students — Sheryl, Elisabeth, and Mike — noticed that an online, centralized platform for sharing thoughts, messages, and ideas did not exist for the university community.”

Their ideas came to fruition “when two staff members came forward and collaborated with the team,” allowing “a sample of the campus community to become aware of UBC Life in an effective, sustainable, and paper-free manner.”

Though UBCLife may be lifeless, students may not be without an online forum for long. Haeusser told The Ubyssey that an online social media forum has been in the works by the university for months.

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